page_title: Human branding
section_title: As punishment
hierarchical_section_title: Human branding / Historical use / As punishment
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: historyofgreatr00merl (find matches) Title: History of the great reformation in Europe in the times of Luther and Calvin.. Year: 1870 (1870s) Authors: Merle d'Aubigné, Jean Henri. (from old catalog) Subjects: Publisher: (n.p.) Contributing Library: The Library of Congress Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: sitatedwere reduced to the necessity of decision,either to return without loss of time to thePapal ranks, or to take their stand with bold-ness on the side of Christ. Just then William Farel, a Frenchmanfrom the mountains of Dauphiny, communi-cated a powerful impulse to Switzerland,—decided the reformation of the western cantons,hitherto sunk in a profound slumber, and socaused the balance to incline in favour of thenew doctrines throughout the Confederation.FarePs coming resembled the arrival of thosefresh troops, who just when the battle hangsdoubtfully, appear upon the field, throw them-selves into the thick of the fight and decidethe victory. He led the way in Switzerlandfor another Frenchman, whose austere faithand commanding genius were ordained toterminate the Reformation, and render thework complete. In the persons of these dis-tinguished men France took her part in thatvast commotion which agitated Christendom.It is therefore time that we should turn ourattention to France. Text Appearing After Image: HISTORY OF THE KEFORMATION. 371 BOOK XII. THE FRENCH.1500—1526. The Reformation in France—Persecution of the Vaudois—Birthplace of Farel—La Saint Croix-The Priests Wizard—Farels Superstitious Faith—The Chevalier Bayard—Louis XII—ThoTwo Valois—Lefevre—His Devotion—Farels Reverence for the Pope—Farel and the Bible-Gleams of Light—Lefevre Turns to St. Paul—Lefevre on Works—University Amusements-Faith and Works—Paradoxical Truth—Farel and the Saints—Allman Refutes De Vio—PierreOlivetan—Happy Change in Farel—Independence and Priority—Of the Reformation in France-Francis of Angouleme—Two Classes of Combatants—Margaret of Valois—Talents of the Queenof Navarre—The Bishop and the Bible—Francis Encourages Learning—Margaret Embraces theGospel—Poetical Effusions—Of the Duchess of Alencon—Margarets Danger—Violence of Beda—Louis Berquin—Opposition to the Gospel—The Concordat—The Concordat Resisted—Fanati-cism and Timidity—T Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: Human branding or stigmatizing is the process by which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting scar makes it permanent. This is performed using a hot or very cold branding iron. It therefore uses the physical techniques of livestock branding on a human, either with consent as a form of body modification; or under coercion, as a punishment or to identify an enslaved, oppressed, or otherwise controlled person. It may also be practiced as a "rite of passage", e.g. within a tribe, or to signify membership of or acceptance into an organization.
context_section_description: In criminal law, branding with a hot iron was a mode of punishment consisting of marking the subject as if goods or animals,  sometimes concurrently with their reduction of status in life.
  Brand marks have also been used as a punishment for convicted criminals, combining physical punishment, as burns are very painful, with public humiliation (greatest if marked on a normally visible part of the body) which is here the more important intention, and with the imposition of an indelible criminal record.
  Robbers, like runaway slaves, were marked by the Romans with the letter F (fur); and the toilers in the mines, and convicts condemned to figure in gladiatorial shows, were branded on the forehead for identification. Under Constantine I the face was not permitted to be so disfigured, the branding being on the hand, arm or calf.
  The Acts of Sharbil record it applied, amongst other tortures, to a Christian between the eyes and on the cheeks in Parthian Edessa at the time of the Roman Emperor Trajan on a judge's order for refusal to sacrifice.
  In the 16th century, German Anabaptists were branded with a cross on their foreheads for refusing to recant their faith and join the Roman Catholic church.
  In the North-American Puritan settlements of the 17th century, men and women sentenced for adultery were branded with an "A" letter on their chest, and for other crimes, such as "D" for drunkenness and "B" for blasphemy.
  The mark in later times was also often chosen as a code for the crime (e.g. in Canadian military prisons D for Desertion, BC for Bad Character; most branded men were shipped off to a penal colony). Branding was used for a time by the Union Army during the American Civil War. Surgeon and Oxford English Dictionary contributor William Chester Minor was required to brand deserters at around the time of the Battle of the Wilderness.
  Until 1832 in France, various offenses carried the additional infamy of being branded with a fleur de lis and galley-slaves could be branded GAL or, once the galleys were replaced by the bagnes on land, TF (travaux forcés, 'forced' labor, i.e. hard labour) or TFP (travaux forcés à perpetuité, hard labour for life). In most of the German-speaking states, however, branding people was unlawful. 
  Following the Conspiracy of the Slaves of 1749 in Malta, some slaves were branded with the letter R (for ribelli) on their forehead and condemned to the galleys for life.
  Branding tended to be abolished like other judicial mutilations (with notable exceptions, such as amputation under sharia law), sooner and more widely than flogging, caning, and similar corporal punishments, which normally aim 'only' at pain and at worst cause stripe scars, although the most severe lashings (not uncommon in penal colonies) in terms of dosage and instrument (such as the proverbial knout) can even turn out to cause death.
caption: Branding of the Huguenot John Leclerc during the 16th century persecutions.
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